The solution to one million camels roaming across the outback has finally been found – milk them and make a lot of money in the process
Australia already has a budding camel milk business – Good Earth Dairy, and now they have laid out some ambitious plans to launch our feral, previous unowned, camels into the stratosphere.
An equity crowdfunding campaign being run for Good Earth Dairy through the Birchal platform will seek AU$1.2 million to chase a slice of the $56 billion global infant formula sales, a market expected to grow to $100 billion by 2025.
Not sure whether mothers had planned to feed their offspring on camel milk as opposed to more traditional sources such as cows, but that option could soon be on the table.
Western Australia’s first commercial camel milk dairy has already spent nearly 5 years and over $4 million to develop intellectual property (IP) to produce camel milk at significantly reduced prices in comparison to other market providers.
“With our novel IP to reduce costs and increase yield, camel milk is now a viable disruptor to the multi-billion dollar global infant formula industry, and we intend to enter that market with the support of this equity crowdfunding campaign,” Good Earth Dairy co-founder and CEO Marcel Steingiesser said.
The average price of camel milk is AU$18 per litre and tins of the powder sell for more than AU$100 in China.
Good Earth Dairy claim the only other competitor on its scale has a production cost of AU$12 per litre, while Good Earth Dairy has developed unique agritech to produce the camel milk below AU$3 per litre.
And with the addition of yield improvements, the cost will drop below AU$1 per litre, which is a marked competitive advantage and will enable the milk to be commoditised,” Marcel Steingiesser said.
Good Earth Dairy claims that it’s IP can scale to more than 3 million litres a year for each commissioned modular dairy and as camel milk is free of the key allergen of dairy milk, it caters to infant formula, particularly as cow milk is the second most common allergen in Australia.
This venture was co-founded by cameleer Stephen Geppert, ex-government employees in Western Australia government: Henry Steingiesser and the late Hon Kim Chance and Marcel Steingiesser.
The overall plan is to utilise the world’s largest wild camel population, a resource previously ignored and being treated as a pest requiring millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money to go towards population culling.
“Understanding milk chemistry and our gut requirements we believe this will be a major disruptor to the AU$400 billion global dairy industry,” Steingiesser said.
Camel milk itself is a superfood, full of minerals that support our immune system, muscle and bone health and it comes in what is arguably the easiest way to digest.
Officials at the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations have stated that famine and starvation could be significantly reduced with camel milk.
A recent study for diabetics suggests that camel milk consumption halved the need for insulin doses, however more work is required for this to obtain TGA approval.
Currently all milk produced from the pilot plant is selling out at more than 50 stockists throughout WA without any marketing.
Good Earth Dairy’s mission is to create a sustainable, ethical agricultural industry focused on large scale production of pure Australian camel milk within a thriving market. The company is also aiming to list on the ASX in early 2021.
If Camel milk and powder takes off, Good Earth Dairy claims it will need a whole new workforce and plans to keep their products made in Australia, for Aussies and the rest of the world to enjoy.
Good Earth Dairy has partnered with the Australian equity crowdfunding platform Birchal, with the aim to raise their AU$1.2 million through public investment. To find out more or to register your expression of interest go to: www.birchal.com/company/goodearthdairy
Learn more about the advantages of Camel milk and powder by watching Good Earth Dairy’s Equity Crowdfunding Pitch Video
